Our hearts are full of joy and hope as we celebrate Easter, the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose Passion and Death we commemorated on Good Friday. Easter is a season of joy and hope. We are joyful because God triumphed over the evil of death in the Resurrection of His Only Begotten Son. We are hopeful because having died with Him in our baptism, His Resurrection provides the much-needed assurance that we shall rise with Him in our daily endeavors and ultimately after our earthly sojourn (as long as we remain faithful to our baptismal promises). Just as the Resurrection of Christ in Jerusalem restored the dwindling flame of faith among His disciples, so will the celebration of it in our time rekindle and invigorate the dying flame of faith, hope and love in our individual selves, in our community, and in our faith assembly.

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord ushers us into Holy Week, the Week during which we shall commemorate the Passion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Palm Sunday begins with the proclamation of Jesus’ triumphal entrance into Jerusalem where He taught for awhile before the commencement of His passion and death which He endured in order as the perfect Lamb of Sacrifice (Gen 22:8) in order to reconcile all people to God and to restore the world to righteousness. There are two Gospel passages read at the Liturgy on Palm Sunday.

In last weekend’s reflection on the First Readings in the Holy Season of Lent “Year B,” we noted how God’s numerous initiatives to establish and sustain a covenant relationship with man led to the Noahic Covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant, and the Mosaic Covenant with the emerging nation Israel. The people, led by their princes and priests, deviated from the terms of this Covenant necessitating a response from God who is just and merciful. When it was obvious that the Old Covenant had failed as a result of Israel’s notorious unfaithfulness, God decided to establish a New Covenant, this time not only with the nation of Israel but the whole of humanity.

The First Readings of the Sundays of the Season of Lent for “Year B” are arranged in such a way that they follow a certain order in the history of salvation. The First Reading of the First Sunday of Lent introduces us to the covenant God made with Noah after the flood. On the Second Sunday of Lent, we are reminded of the Covenant between God and Abraham, our father in faith. This is followed by the Sinai experience on the Third Sunday of Lent where God made a Covenant with the people of Israel who were now in the process of becoming a nation. This weekend, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, the First Reading dwells on how Israel deviated from the terms of the Covenant thereby incurring the wrath of God. God responded by allowing them to be exiled, and the Lord showed them mercy by using a pagan King to restore them to their land and faith. We shall read about the promise of the New Covenant from the prophet Jeremiah next Sunday, and on Passion Sunday, we shall begin the celebration of the consummation of this New Covenant through the salvific work of the suffering servant.

In every relationship that involves two or more persons, there are usually rules that define the basis of such a relationship, guide its progress and sometimes state what is prohibited for the continuous existence of such a relationship. The rules could be written, oral or simply left to the understanding of the parties involved. From the call of Abraham, God indicated that He intended to have a relationship with his descendants. When they crossed the Red Sea, Israel crossed not only from slavery to freedom, but also from a loose collection of tribes to a developing nation.

The fall of man in the Garden of Eden was caused by the disobedience of Adam and Eve, when they could not sacrifice their inordinate desire to “be like God” and they ate the forbidden fruit in spite of the warning they had received from God. From that moment, man acquired the tendency to sin and so the “obedience test” became one of the necessary huddles every individual had to fulfill in order to establish and sustain a viable right relationship with God. Obedience requires sacrificing your own desires and opinions in order to be aligned with God’s supreme will. This explains why Abraham, who had answered God’s invitation to have a personal relationship with Him, was also required to pass the obedience test by sacrificing what was most precious to him in order to solidify his relationship with God.

Welcome to the Season of Lent! The Season of Lent is a season of grace when through the tripartite holy practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we strive to climb and arrive at the glorious mountain of Easter, the season of renewal. The Lenten Season, which runs between Ash Wednesday until the Mass of the Lord’s Supper exclusive on Holy Thursday, has a double character, namely to prepare both Catechumens and the faithful to celebrate the Paschal Mystery. The Catechumens, both with the Rite of Election and Scrutinies, and by catechesists, are prepared for the celebration of the sacraments of Christian initiation; the faithful, ever more aentive to the Word of God and prayer, prepare themselves by Penance for the renewal of their Baptismal promises.

In ancient Israel, leprosy was a disease that was considered a punishment for committing sin and a person who was unfortunate to contract it was marginalized and their communion with both God and man was unfortunately disrupted. The First Reading provides a background to understanding the encounter between Jesus and the leper who, after receiving healing from Jesus, decided to disobey Jesus’ instruction to him to “see that you tell no one anything….” by spreading the news of his miraculous cure everywhere, thus impeding the Lord’s movement.

After losing everything including his family and treasure, and feeling dejected with his entire body covered in sores inflicted on him by the Devil and allowed by God, Job reflected on the purpose of life, with particular attention to toil, wealth and suffering. His initial conclusion was that life is transient and labor is futile. Job was pessimistic in his evaluation of his current predicament. However, in the final lines of his reflection, Job prayed to God to remember that his life has been like the wind. This is indicative of a hidden hope of restoration which Job secretly looks forward to experiencing. Suffering comes to all of us one way or the other. For unbelievers, this is enough reason to resort to pessimism and fatalism, but for the Christian, when besieged by suffering of any form, the right attitude is to radiate joyful hope in a faithful God who will certainly alleviate our suffering.

Like Jesus in the New Testament, Moses led the people out of slavery, an act that Jesus would perfect with His Passion and death, not just for Israel alone but for all people of all generations. Again, Moses established the reign of God among the people of Israel by giving them laws which he got from God. In the New Testament, Jesus would establish and provide for the sustenance of the Kingdom of God through the law of love. “I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you.” (Jn 13:34)

The Readings for the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time Year B emphasize the urgency for propagation of the Good News and the need to repent and return to the right relationship with God who is merciful. Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrian empire which destroyed Northern Israel, killed many of its inhabitants and dispersed the remnants on exile. Since Jonah was an Israelite, he hated and despised the people who humiliated and destroyed his people, the human weakness in the prophet Jonah would have loved nothing more than seeing the Ninevites destroyed. So, he first tried not to go preach to Nineveh as God instructed him, and when it became obvious to him that running away from God and the mission to which he was sent was not going to be possible, Jonah decided to attend to the mission but with barest minimum effort.

In His covenant relationship with the people of Israel, God required human intermediaries to mediate between the people and the Lord. Many times, mediators also acted as the visible leaders of the people, took directives from the Sovereign God, and passed the same onto the people. At a particular time, Eli the priest of Shiloh was the designated intermediary between God and His people. Samuel had been offered to God by his mother and was learning the ways of the Lord under the competent guidance of Eli the priest.

“Epiphany,” as used in the Liturgy, refers to the self-manifestation of God to His people. Prior to the birth of Christ, the Jews, who were the first to enjoy a covenant relationship with God, believed that God was exclusively theirs and very distant even to the people with whom He made a covenant. As far as they were concerned, Yahweh was Israel’s God and all who desired a relationship with Him were required to adhere to Jewish rituals. He was also an almighty distant power who controlled their people’s lives through strict obedience to His laws. So awesome and distant was God that even his name could not be called.